Politicians and journalists share the same fate in that they often understand tomorrow the things they talk about today.
Helmut SchmidtRonad Reagan might go down to history as a man who in the end of this administration brought about the first nuclear arms reduction treaty, the first arms reduction treaty at all in the modern world, and this is quite something.
Helmut SchmidtLeonid Brezhnev did not understand the enormous political importance of the decision to produce and afterwards deploy the SS-20s.
Helmut SchmidtLeonid Breznev was an old man and despite his own military experience in World War II, he on the other hand was not very close to the military.
Helmut SchmidtI have talked about the deterioration of the atmosphere between Washington and Moscow. It was quite clear that in the year 1980, which at the same time was an election year in America, these negotiations would not go very far, but immediately after the start of the Reagan administration we in Bonn started to try influencing them on the medium-range nuclear weapons negotiations, and we told them that in our view the best outcome would be zero-zero, zero on either side.
Helmut Schmidt